1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an exercise apparatus and, more particularly to a method which facilitates operation of the exercise apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
General indoor exercise apparatus, such as treadmills, stationary bicycles, or steppers, usually have a console which has a control interface for a user to input orders and providing feedback to the user via image or audio. Prior control interfaces usually adopt a common input method that is disposed several keys which respectively have different functions on the console. The user can press corresponding keys according to his requirement. Besides, a common feedback method uses various LED to show information regarding to numerals, characters, or exercise process charts. Some advanced control interfaces use LCD screen to achieve the same feedback function. Furthermore, some control interfaces adopt touch screen which concurrently has the functions of input and feedback and can simplify the control interfaces by showing virtual keys on the touch screen.
No matter what kinds of exercise apparatus, setting “quantifiable exercise intensity”, such as speed of a treadmill, incline angle of a treadmill, and resistance of a stepper, is almost the most used function. In prior control interface, value of the quantifiable exercise intensity is often displayed by a plurality of LED, or showed in numerals or characters. For example, prior control interface shows the characters of “3.5 mph” or “level 10” thereon. Besides, prior control interface usually provides several keys for inputting numerals from “0” to “9” and adjusting keys for a user to use these keys to control the exercise intensity.
However, it is inconvenient to use keys to control an exercise apparatus. For instance, if a user wants to adjust a present value of “7.0” to a new value of “3.5”, generally, he may adopt one of following three methods. The first is touching keys corresponding to the numeral “3” and the numeral “5” in turn, and then touching an “Enter” key to input. The second is holding down a “minus” key to make the value of “7.0” keep decreasing until the value of “3.5”. The third is touching a hotkey to make the value of “7.0” to become “4.0” or “3.0”, and then pressing the “minus” key or a “plus” key five times or pressing over a period of time to achieve the values of “3.5”. These methods are inconvenient and may waste much time.
Besides, prior control methods about displaying and adjusting the control interface have another disadvantage. Because prior control interface only displays the current value, the user can not simultaneously understand all of the information and the relationship therebetween. Therefore, when the user adjusts the exercise intensity, it is difficult for him to control variation. For example, a user can not understand what a numeral “3.5” means and the numeral is at high intensity or low intensity within the overall adjusting range as operating prior control interface of an exercise apparatus. When the user wants to exercise in the middle exercise intensity of the exercise apparatus or 1.5 times against current exercise intensity, it is hard for prior control method and control interface to achieve the requirements.
In addition, prior control interfaces often use and arrange a plurality of LED to show the exercise process chart for concretely presenting the exercise intensity during the exercising time. Usually, the plurality of LED composes of a LED matrix display. A transverse axle of the LED matrix display represents time and a vertical axle thereof represents the exercise intensity. A user can recognize the current exercise intensity and exercising time from the LED matrix display. But, the rise and fall boundary between light LED and dark LED often make the user have misunderstanding. For instance, when the user uses a treadmill, he may imagine the boundary as an incline real road. This is wrong, because the decline boundary does not represent a decline road.